TODAY: Chelsea Freeman posted the great news on Instagram that Maximus has returned home from the hospital.
AUGUST 3: For the second time in as many years, the Dodgers have acquired Amed Rosario ahead of the trade deadline. Coming off a down season in Cleveland last year that left him as a below-average hitter overall, Rosario was used almost exclusively against left-handed pitching during his time with L.A. last season. Despite the fact that he’s hit both righties and lefties quite well with the Rays this year, however, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register) that Rosario’s role with the club will be similar to last year.
“Honestly, to be quite frank, he’s not on this team, and we didn’t acquire him, to be an everyday player — he didn’t play every day in Tampa — and to hit righties,” Roberts said (as relayed by Plunkett) when asked about Rosario’s role this year.
Rosario has improved considerably in terms of both his overall slash line, which sits at .308/.332/.421 (116 wRC+) in 277 trips to the plate, and in boosting his slash against righties to a respectable .299/.324/.395 (107 wRC+). Even so, it’s worth noting that the 28-year-old is still hitting lefties better than same-handed pitching. With lefty-swinging Gavin Lux at second base, Shohei Ohtani locked into everyday at-bats at DH, and a trio of lefty-swingers in James Outman, Jason Heyward, and Kevin Kiermaier all part of the club’s deep outfield mix, it’s fair to wonder where exactly Rosario would fit into the club’s lineup against right-handed pitching.
Rosario has plenty of experience at shortstop and played a bit of third base for Tampa this year, but the club seems satisfied with Kiké Hernández at third base and Nick Ahmed at shortstop for the time being. Perhaps more importantly, each of those pieces are only stopgap options to begin with. Plunkett goes on to note that Roberts indicated the club hopes to see superstar Mookie Betts return to the lineup on August 12 or 13. Betts has been sidelined since mid-June after an errant pitch fractured his left hand.
Betts was in the midst of a MVP-caliber season prior to his injury, slashing an incredible .304/.405/.488 in 72 games that’s made all the more impressive by the fact that he was simultaneously making a relatively seamless transition to becoming the everyday shortstop in L.A. this season. While it seemed at one point that veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas had staked his claim to regular starts at short in Betts’ absence, a forearm issue sent him to the shelf as well and seemingly leaves the position for Betts to slide back into upon his return.
While third base figures to be an option for a while longer with Max Muncy still out due to a strained oblique, Freddie Freeman’s impending return from the restricted list could lessen opportunities for Rosario at the hot corner as well. Freeman has been out for about a week now as he tends to his family following the hospitalization of his son, Maximus, due to Guillain-Barré syndrome but Roberts notes that he could return to the club as soon as this week when they face the Phillies in a three-game set that starts on Monday. Freeman’s return to action would free up Cavan Biggio from regular reps at first base, giving the club a left-handed infield option with plenty of experience at third base the club may prefer to utilize over Rosario against right-handers.
Sticking with news regarding currently-unavailable stars, Plunkett notes that right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a 20-pitch bullpen session today in his first time taking the mound since being sidelined with a strained rotator cuff back in June. Roberts told reporters (including Plunkett) that the bullpen was a “big step forward” and that Yamamoto is slated to throw another bullpen on Tuesday as the club angles for a return to action for the righty sometime next month. The right-hander received the biggest pitching contract in MLB history before throwing a single pitch in the big leagues this past winter and immediately made good on it with a 2.92 ERA and 2.68 FIP in 14 starts for the Dodgers before being shelved due to the injury. Injuries to Yamamoto and Walker Buehler led the club to fortify their rotation at the deadline by adding right-hander Jack Flaherty, but it seems possible that Yamamoto and Flaherty could join forces down the stretch and into the postseason at the front of L.A.’s rotation alongside Tyler Glasnow.
What no Brasier update??? Come on!!!
olm – He enjoyed a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant last night and then after went to see the movie Twisters.
Right now he’s drinking coffee and eating a raisin bagel while in his bathrobe.
More to come …..
FPG… thank YOU for the update!! Hilarious!!!
Why does it seem like the Dodgers have 35 dudes on the active roster? I’m sure it’s the injuries, but man that team is loaded
kripe – Let’s put it this way, the Dodgers recently let go a starting pitcher and that same pitcher is now the #3 in the Red Sox rotation.
So yeah, they are loaded. If they ever get healthy they should steamroll through the postseason.
The problem is a lot for the guys on the current active roster are not very good. They could be loaded if everyone was healthy but right now they are anything but loaded.
Are they? They aren’t going to win their division. They are apart of the season of epic collapses.If they don’t win their division they might not be in the playoffs.
Please MLB has turned into the NBA, even the Mets can make the playoffs.
The Mets will have a better record then the Dodgers so I hope so.
Edman?
No, Buehler? Buehler?
Buehler got spanked in his last rehab start in AAA on Thursday, giving up 4 ER in 3 IP. .
And as a Dodger fan he should not be back with the big club until he proves he can get AAA hitters out consistently. Too late in the season to have him perform like he did the last time he was recalled.
The same could be said of Kershaw, but short of an injury we know the team will keep rolling him out and let him work out his issues on the mound.
I appreciate what you did there
Buehler is looking like the next Noah Syndergaard.
He’s not quite there yet, but I hear ya.
Having two TJ surgeries can do that to a starting pitcher. Only 3 out of 56 have come back to make 20 starts in a season with under a 4.00 ERA. The odds were not in his favor.
I am yet to hear any kind of speculation as to when or if Edman is going to play this year. The Cards last update on him prior to the trade was not promising. He was on a rehab assignment, but was only DHing occasionally with no time table for when he would take the field defensively. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see Edman playing at all the rest of the way.
I read that Betts, Muncy, Edman and Rojas will all be involved in a sim game this week. Rojas is the closest to returning with Betts and Edman right behind him. Muncy is a bit further out but is finally showing process after a chiropractic visit.
The return of those four, plus eventually Freeman, and then Yamamoto, will make them a formidable team. It’ll be fun to watch.
Cavan Biggio is a DFA candidate once the Dodgers start getting back their star players.
He and maybe Rosario and maybe even Keekay if enough are healthy before rosters expand.
They won’t DFA Kikay (I know how it’s spelled). They’ll send Outman down to AAA. Maybe DFA Biggio. And Stone hasn’t been sharp recently, I could see them sending him down or he could come down with a mysterious injury and go on the IL.
Outman probably goes down when Mookie comes back. Biggio DFA when Muncy returns.
VLM,
I absolutely appreciate what you’re doing with that spelling, and paddyo, too. I like that my phone keyboard allows me to add accent marks easily, so I can type Kiké.
If Stone has options, then yeah, I could see them sending him down for some rest while they sort through the rest of the rotation options.
paddyo: Rosters only expand to 28, not 40 as they once did.
Pages getting sent down to
Maybe they can expand rosters soon, and they have plenty of guys with options and DL options.
No chance the entire roster is healthy at once, however.
Roberts is such a fool
Okay Butters
He really likes his own posts though so he’s got that going for him.
Were I a GM, I’d take Roberts over 85-90% of the current MLB managers.
The key factoid being, front offices hire managers. We as fans don’t have a say. They also don’t construct rosters. But the most important one is, in the era of analytics, managers are making their in-game decisions based on data compiled by the FO. The other 90% of a manager’s day to day responsibilities is basically being the team’s HR director. This part of what he does, we as fans rarely see.
Dave Roberts: Why would we play the hot bat in Rosario when we have cold bats like Chris Taylor, Cavan Biggio, and Kike? Biggio is probably gone when Muncy is back but who are they going to cut or demote when Taylor comes back? Friedman loves his unproductive vets too much to cut them.
Because Rosario’s defense is bad and he’s much worse vs RHP compared to LHP. This year and career.
You can say the same things about Taylor and Enrique. Nothing you said even adds substance to the discussion but i’m not surprised because your takes are always god awful on here.
Why are you so sour about the truth? Why shoot the messenger? Yeah I know everything that ever goes wrong is Dave’s fault. Typical whiny Dodger fan.
So, you think that Friedman acquired Rosario for the second year in a row and Roberts is using him similarly to last year and that Friedman is not on board with this strategy? Who the fukk is the clueless one that adds ZERO value??
Yeah i don’t get it. Sure his defense isn’t good, but i mean we have like 4 guys under like .700 OPS regularly, Ahmed and Kike can’t hit righties or lefties right now and neither can CT3. Rosario is hitting .299 with a .719 OPS against righties this year, let him hit.. Kike’s hitting .194 against righties. Why complicate things, just play Rosario and bench Kike.
You guys get too caught up on small sample sizes. Kiké and Taylor are guys that have been extremely productive bench players for a while. Both are having down years but you don’t just give up on those guys. Because they can play much better going forward.
A few weeks ago you guys wanted Lux sent down to AAA or traded for a bag of baseballs. Patience is not a virtue of many Dodger “fans”. Taylor was one of the more productive players of late at bottom of lineup before he went down with an injury. Baseball decisions are not that easy.
I have no problem with playing Rosario over Ahmed and Kiké vs RHP in the short run but I don’t think results would be that much different. He will give you a little more offense than those two but also worse defense. He’s always much better vs LHP though and why he was acquired.
mlb – A down year is one thing, but a 3-year downward trend is another.
Since 2022 Kike has a .630 OPS and hasn’t been above .646 but he’s been kept on rosters because of his “versatility”.
Fair enough on Kiké but not the same for Taylor. Kike also had some success last year as a Dodger on a small sample. Yeah, I don’t doubt Rosario gives you better offense but Kike definitely better defense. Dodger fans don’t really care about defense but it does matter. Again, I would have no complaints on Rosario over Kiké, but also no issues with Kiké over Rosario vs RHP.
Taylor might not come back after that groin injury. Same with Rojas…..I suspected right away that Rojas will end up with Tommy John surgery after they said he would miss only a few days.
Murray Rothbard: “We?” You work for the Dodgers?
Taylor has been hurt the entire time they have had Rosario, so Taylor hasn’t played instead of Rosario.
Nothing like expressing confidence in your players. Great job Roberts. Hey Rosario, we think you suck against righties, can’t really play defense, and we only got you to hit against lefties. So sit down on that bench and shut up until you get the privilege of occasionally playing for the Dodgers.
Where’s the lie?
Most of it.
Yeah he’s probably thinking he’d much rather be a bench player in Tampa.
He played in 76 games for the Rays. Not a bench player at all but ramble on.
And started around 20 less. Bench player. So ramble on yourself, it’s your superpower.
Yeah imagine being Rosario who’s hitting better than like 4 regular starters and riding the bench. Why did they even trade for him anyways?
For a RHB off the bench? Is this a trick question?
lol he’s hitting .299 vs righties. He should be in RF, Heyward hitting below .200. Or play him at 3B. Bench biggio & play kike at 1B
He has a sub .300 OBP and a .673 OPS against righties for his career. That’s probably more reflective of his ability going forward that 150 AB’s this season.
@cam,
Probably? Ride the hot hand. Last year is past.
Last year ≠ career.
You seriously need help figuring that out?
LOL you are definitely from California. Personal attacks because you can’t defend your argument. News flash. You’re not the teacher. You’re defiantly not smarter and you might want to grow up.
If you don’t know, you probably shouldn’t comment.
You still didn’t name any of them. Maybe go figure that out first. That is the first step in not looking like a troll. If you can’t, then just stop commenting.
I think Amed was much happier with the Rays.
Is this what he told you?
Another Dodger fan who can’t read articles and stay informed.
Why?
Talk about damning with faint praise. I bet if you slipped Roberts a dose of sodium pantethol he’d say he wasn’t in favor of acquiring Rosario last year or this year.
When do the Dodgers get passed by the Padres? And then the Diamondbacks? The season of epic collapses.
If that happens, Mets are definitely not making the playoffs….
Sure. The Mets making the playoffs and the Dodgers tuff schedule and collapse are remotely linked. The Phillies are collapsing too.
Brewers haven’t been all that good either. We could have a wild finish to this season.
It’s going to be the season of epic collapses. American League East could happen too. Ten game leads blown in almost every division and wild card.
Whatever you’re smoking, homie, pass that ish cuz it must be dank with how utterly dumb it’s making you. The Dodgers are on the mend, we’re getting Freddie back this week, Betts back in 2. This team is about to get hot.
I expect the dodgers to play well once they get everyone back. The question really is will they have blown their lead by then. Probably not but we shall see in the next week or two.
Best wishes Maximus.
Article didn’t mention bullpen, but there may be a bigger logjam there. I’m sure Kelly/Kopech/Hudson/Vesia/Treinen/Phillips are locked in, but Banda got the save today and Honeywell has been pitching the best of all in a short sample. I’m not sure Brasier or Graterol have a spot waiting for them.
Question Dodgers fans: have you seen any evidence of there being a problem in not being able to rest/rotate players at DH because Ohtani is always penciled in for that spot? I recall somebody on the Angels saying when Ohtani was there that his constant lock on the DH spot made it harder for guys to get rest and really limited flexibility in some cases. (Maybe Joe Maddon was the one who mentioned that.) I would assume that having Ohtani at DH outweighs all the negatives that could occur by not having that flexibility. Thoughts?
First, having Ohtani locked in to DH outweighs the negatives. The main, and maybe only, guy affected is Smith, who may be catching more games since he can’t take a break and DH. Barnes is showing signs of being an average hitter for the first time in a long while so maybe they can start to reduce Smith’s workload. They haven’t had the good fortune to have a bench player who needs more ABs–quite the opposite, unfortunately.
They need to teach Smith how to play 1st. With Freeman being a lefty, and not exactly a kid, it would be a good rotation.
Good news for the Freeman family.
Such incredibly good news for the Freeman family. Glad to see it and hope to see you playing soon Freddie.
Bottom Line: Good Luck Freeman Family. I will pray for you guys. Dodgers no kind feelings. They are slumping with all the talent in the world and an unlimited Budget. Hope the slide continues!
They are slumping (after just winning two out of 3 vs a hot Oakland team despite being depleted on roster) because they have more WAR on the injured list than any team in baseball, and on top of it as noted here Freeman has been out a week+ too due to the family health crisis. Muncy has been out most of the season, Mookie Betts will have missed two months by the time he’s back, Rojas is injured, one of their top pitchers Yamamoto has been injured, two key relievers have been injured all season, and yet here they are somehow still in first. But anyway it’s kind of you to wish FF and family well and that’s more important here 😉
Since July 1st the Dodgers have gone 13 wins and 14 losses. All of that without Betts.
If they have no more injuries and Betts returns by August 15th, the Dodgers will have spent more money on players on the IL this season than 4 teams will have spent on their entire payroll.
Once again the Dodgers will have the most talented roster, stacked from top to bottom, and they will lose because they will refuse to be anything but analytically robotic in their decision making. No heart or soul at all in their thought process or leadership.
As a Dodger fan it pains me to say, this might be true. I would like to see them trust their starters, especially the younger arms, to pitch their way out of a jam when they might be getting close to their pitch count. Also, don’t get me started on pitch counts. It’s like, why is the bullpen always shot once the postseason rolls around, oh yeah, because you rode them hard and put them away wet.
It’s frustrating to watch am especially since there are so many players with high baseball IQ’s on the team (Betts, Freeman etc.)
Yeah it will be interesting if the dodgers yank any starter not named Glasnow after 5 innings if they are pitching well.
Not that the dodgers don’t have some good pen arms (shakey at times) but when you are asking 4-5 different relievers to have it that day it’s pretty risky.
I think the biggest concern for the dodgers this year is if they will get any production from the bottom of the order. If not then that puts a ton of pressure on the top of the lineup not to just be good but great. If one or two of them have a bad series then it’s curtains.
So right about asking too much of 4-5 relievers to be on. I never understood this shift to numerous 1 inning relievers to finish out a game. It’s why there are so many lead changes late in games. You keep going further into the bullpen inning after inning and eventually you’ll find somebody who is off that night. As much as these front offices would prefer it these aren’t machines out in the field.
What a blessing for the Freeman family. Praying for continued healing for Maximus and comfort for his family. Mi shebeirach imoteinu, M’kor habracha l’avoteinu